library
Turfan oasis: Qocho and Bulayiq
Gaochang / Bulayiq, near Turpan, China · Silk Road / overland route
42.855, 89.529
Attested. Archaeologically attested; manuscripts held in the Berlin Turfan collection.
German expeditions in 1904-05 excavated a church with wall paintings at Qocho (one probably showing Palm Sunday) and a Christian monastic library at Bulayiq. Its manuscripts in Syriac, Sogdian, Middle Persian, Old Uyghur and a Greek-Sogdian Psalm fragment are now in Berlin, and almost all known Sogdian Christian texts come from there.
Source stance: insider. The community's own manuscripts.
People and groups named here
- Albert von Le Coq (excavator)
- Sogdian and Uyghur Christians
Related places
Sources
- Pleiades place 999273476: Gaochang
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- CHRISTIANITY iii. In Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan
Nicholas Sims-Williams, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Bulayïq (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (UNESCO World Heritage List no. 1442)
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.